Devious Comments

Ultimately, its up to you what you want to draw on. If you are looking to try something different I would recommend smooth bristol board for pencil drawings since the smooth service really helps with blending. Plus it is also a heavier material to work with. But regular paper is good for rough or concept sketches. Something that I think is key is to use professional grade pencils like Derwent brand or other similar brands. If you plan on doing some ink work, I like to use Micron Technical Pens or Faber Castell brush pens myself but you can look around for something that suits your needs. Brush pens are good because you can vary the weight of the line to your liking. Also, if you plan on inking your pencil work remember to draw using a light pencil like 2H or HB.

Thanks! That's exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I've got dozens of sketches lying around, but without colour they seem unfinished. The brush pen sounds interesting. I'll have to give it a try. Thank you!

If you want to do comics style artwork then get into the habit of doing lots of pencil sketches - a soft pencil about a 2B would be a good start but try different things and find something that you like.

If you like a sketch or think it has potential then you can ink it and erase your pencil sketch. India ink and dip pens with a selection of nibs are good - you can do nice bold lines and with a bit of practice vary their width and shape. But in this day and age you can scan your sketches and ink/colour them traditionally.

Thanks for the advice. I do loads of sketches all the time, but I never ink or colour them. I've scanned some into the computer to colour with Photoshop, but I'm pretty useless with the tablet. :\ I'll head to the art store and pick up a decent pen and ink set. Thanks again!

That 'traditionally' at the end of my post should have been 'digitally'. I hope you will forgive my mistake. People have somehow managed to forgive me for worse things - although maybe they were just too nice.